KENDELL CARTER: MARVEL

PRESS RELEASE

MARCH 11, 2017 – MAY 6, 2017

OPENING RECEPTIONSaturday, March 11, 2017 | 6-8pm

EXHIBITION PROGRAMS

Meditation for North Carolina Saturday, March 25, 2017 | 2pm

Join us in a guided meditation by licensed practitioners T. Dorje Immanuel, Andrea Yarbrough-Morris, and Mackala Lacy to reflect on the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and weakening protections for the LGBT community in North Carolina.

Please join Dr. Jill Moniz, Founder of Transformative Arts and former Head Curator at the California African American Museum of Los Angeles for a discussion with Kendell Carter about changing artistic practices and community engagement strategies.

(Los Angeles) Edward Cella Art & Architecture is proud to presentKENDELL CARTER: MARVEL, an exhibition of cast paintings, sculpture, installation, and guided meditation by Kendell Carter. Carter's sustained commitment to observing and exploring race, gender, history, and consumer culture manifests in a studio practice that pushes beyond that of a black artist making art about politics, and towards one that acknowledges the rapidly integrating nature of today's visual culture.

MARVEL will present site-specific installations of new works. One installation, entitled Cranes for Solange includes an authentic restroom sign from the "Jim Crow era" of American history. Pairs of used white jeans are suspended from inverted shelf brackets, each pair locked with the simple combination lock code "sick," and a lightbox mirrors the restroom sign. Another installation will include a gold-plated sewing machine on a custom plinth, a 19th century quilt found in Alabama, and a pile of used garments. A massive wall installation will be comprised of a new series of cast paintings which act as visual manifestations of Carter's meditative process. These works inherit the subtle impressions of the ground they were poured on, as well as intricate, organic textures in the aerosol of Carter's iconic "LOVE" graffiti. Carter's masterfully orchestrated installations connect scale, form, texture, and surface with contemporary socio-cultural realities and historically rooted gestures.

The gallery floor will feature a large cast latex sculpture which will serve as a mat for a series of meditations on the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, and weakening protections for the LGBT community of North Carolina. These meditations will be guided by licensed practitioners T. Dorje Immanuel, Andrea Yarbrough-Morris, and Mackala Lacy. The public is invited to participate in these guided meditations on March 25, 2017 at 2pm.

A gallery conversation with Kendell Carter and curator Dr. Jill Moniz will take place on April 8, 2017 at 4pm. Dr. Moniz has worked on engagement programs at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California and is the former Head Curator at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. From 2009-2012 she was curator for the Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks Collection of Contemporary Art, and is a founder of Transformative Arts which leads initiatives around Los Angeles.

ABOUT KENDELL CARTER

Kendell Carter was trained as a sculptor and as an environmental designer and holds a BFA from The Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, and a BA in Environmental Design from Art Center College of Design. He received his MFA from California State University, Long Beach.

Carter's multidisciplinary practice that includes painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and design bridges the gap between art and life. His environments explore where and how parallel traditions in culture can be utilized for artistic and social revolutions.

Edward Cella Art & Architecture is committed to supporting and representing significant established, mid-career and emerging artists, architects, and designers. The gallery has an ongoing relationship with photography, painting, sculpture, architectural drawings, models, and design objects that critically re-present ideas, archives, and collective materials. Building on his background as an architectural historian, with a decade of experience in art advisory and collection management, a passion for collecting architectural drawings and ephemera, and contemporary art and erotica, Edward Cella founded Edward Cella Art & Architecture in 2006. The gallery sustains a curatorial emphasis on discourses surrounding issues of cultural and conceptual significance, and has represented historical and under-recognized estates and collections.